Hyper MS

Multiple sclerosistakes; it takes sensations, mobility, memory and more. MS also gives, but its largess is no gift to me.

In our pages, we oft read about how MS has stolen this or that from our compatriots in the battle. We can no longer… We’ve lost the ability to… We can’t seem to… We haven’t, however, spent many words on the nasty stuff MS adds to our life.

Specifically today, I’d like to address the “hyper” symptoms of MS — the stuff that is heightened by the scraping away of our myelin.

I have had several months-long experiences with hypersensitivity of my skin over my decade plus with MS. A sharp contact may feel like nothing more than a pre-MS bump or jostle. The light touch or brushing on bare skin, however, can send me over the roof in weird, almost electric pain.

What I call “Painful Numbness” can occur as well when my leg loses sensation to what I need it to feel (say, THE GROUND for instance!), but it is replaced with pins and needles which make the simple air touching my skin seem like fire.

I’ve also heard (and read) of fellow patients who have developed sensitivity to light (especially fluorescent lighting, which is the bane of many neurological conditions), sound, and smell.

I even read one paper about a woman who became hypersexual — to the point that she and her loving husband considered a sexual surrogate as she needed sexual release 6-10 times per day — until corticosteroid treatment reigned in her over-active libido.

None of these over-the-top symptoms seem to get much press in the MS world. Some may say it’s because they are not common (and no one is saying that hypersexuality is “common”), others because the medical field doesn’t recognize them as symptoms. I argue that, if the latter is true, it’s because we don’t tell them about these heightened sensitivities.

Many of you responded to my last blog post that you like it here because you “don’t feel like you are alone” when you read the blogs and accompanying comments; that you felt previously that you were “the only one.” Well friends, here is another opportunity to speak out, learn from others, and possibly, have something to chat with your medical team on your next visit.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Trevis Gleason

Trevis L. Gleason is a food journalist and published author, an award-winning chef and culinary instructor who has taught at institutions such as Cornell University, New England Culinary Institute and...read more